Medical Mnemonics
General Surgery Mnemonics
Surgery tests both bedside assessment and structured management, and mnemonics carry you through trauma calls, lump examinations, and cancer decisions without missing a step. These fix the primary survey, the lethal triad, the melanoma warning signs, and the triple assessment that recur in clinics and NEET-PG. Say the acronym, then rehearse the examination step or treatment decision behind each letter so it holds up in a long case. Use them when presenting a swelling or handing over a trauma patient. Rebuild each list from the acronym rather than recognising it, since a complete, ordered clinical answer is what earns the marks.
MedNext Academy | 3 min read
Clinically reviewed by Dr Shameer Deen, MBBS, MS, MRCS
General Surgery Mnemonics
Surgery tests both bedside assessment and structured management, and mnemonics carry you through trauma calls, lump examinations, and cancer decisions without missing a step. These fix the primary survey, the lethal triad, the melanoma warning signs, and the triple assessment that recur in clinics and NEET-PG. Say the acronym, then rehearse the examination step or treatment decision behind each letter so it holds up in a long case. Use them when presenting a swelling or handing over a trauma patient. Rebuild each list from the acronym rather than recognising it, since a complete, ordered clinical answer is what earns the marks.
Surgery tests both bedside assessment and structured management, and mnemonics carry you through trauma calls, lump examinations, and cancer decisions without missing a step. These fix the primary survey, the lethal triad, the melanoma warning signs, and the triple assessment that recur in clinics and NEET-PG. Say the acronym, then rehearse the examination step or treatment decision behind each letter so it holds up in a long case. Use them when presenting a swelling or handing over a trauma patient. Rebuild each list from the acronym rather than recognising it, since a complete, ordered clinical answer is what earns the marks.
Mnemonics and expansions
- ABCDE: Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Disability, Exposure. Structures the primary survey of a trauma or shocked patient.
- Lethal triad: Acidosis, Coagulopathy, Hypothermia. Names the self-reinforcing cycle in severe haemorrhagic shock.
- ABCDE (melanoma): Asymmetry, Border irregularity, Colour variation, Diameter, Evolution. Flags the warning features of a suspicious pigmented lesion.
- CIT: Clinical assessment, Imaging, Tissue diagnosis. Gives the three limbs of breast triple assessment.
- I-BROKE: Inversion recent, Blood single-duct, Retraction, Orange-peel skin, hard Nodes, Eczema persistent. Lists the red-flag features in breast symptoms.
- MARS: Margins, Axilla, Radiotherapy, Systemic therapy. Frames the four treatment decisions in operable breast cancer.
- SISTER: Site, Size, Surface, Tenderness, Edge, Relation to skin and muscle. A checklist for documenting any lump.
- Red-Yellow-Green-Black: Red immediate, Yellow delayed, Green walking wounded, Black expectant. Colour-codes triage priorities in a mass-casualty incident.
- GOPP: Gut first, Oral if safe, Postpyloric if gastric fails, Parenteral last. Orders the escalation of nutritional support routes.
- RILM: Reduced intake, Increased losses, raised metabolic Load, Malabsorption. Groups the causes of surgical malnutrition.
- Stones, bones, groans, moans: Renal stones, Bone pain, Abdominal symptoms, Neuropsychiatric symptoms. Recalls the features of hypercalcaemia in primary hyperparathyroidism.
- Merseburg triad: Goitre, Exophthalmos, Tachycardia. Names the classic triad of Graves disease.
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